Easy DIY Magazine or File Holder

These magazine or file holders are very easy to make and are made from simple materials. The bigger one is made from illustration board and the two small ones are made from a cereal box. This project is very useful not just for organizing magazines but also for the kids' coloring books, activity books or other files.  I'm using mine for organizing paper supplies.

I'll show you how I made the magazine holder from a cereal box first. My brand of cereal doesn't have the really big boxes like the others that could fit a magazine, so it's great if your cereal boxes are big enough for magazines, this project will be easy-peasy for you. The box I have is just 7.5" x 2" x 11" and it couldn't hold my scrapbook paper stash so it's just for my notebooks, photo paper, and other smaller stuff. 

The picture above shows some options on how to cut your cereal box to make this project. Just remove the top flaps of your box, mark and line on where you should cut, and cut it using a craft knife or scissors. Then, have fun decorating, you can use wrapping paper, stickers, or washi tape.

As I've mentioned earlier, my box is a bit small and it's just for small stuff like notebooks, so this is what I did. I cut my box in half as shown in this picture so I was able to make two small holders.

First, I closed the top flaps back and secured them with glue, so that would be the bottom of one of the holders. 

I did a little measuring then mark and line the box on where to cut and used my craft knife to cut the box in half. 

Then, there are two pieces ready to be covered. I just used scrapbook paper and glue to wrap them.

And, done. My notebook and small paper supplies are now neatly organized which is better than when they're piled up on top of each other.

Now, on to my copy paper, card stock, art paper, and scrapbook paper pile. Since I don't have a cereal box big enough to hold them, I just used illustration board to make the holder instead.

I have this 20" x 30" illustration board I bought for only Php 37 (less than $1) that I was planning to use for another wall art, but I decided to use it on this project instead, I'm still waiting for some supplies to make that wall art, anyway.

I cut the board based on the paper sizes I have which are mostly A4, so before the diagonal cut out design, the sides are 9" x 12" and the width of the box is 4".

I just used a regular white glue to stick the parts together and let it dry for quite a while maybe more than an hour or two since I used a generous amount of glue to make sure that every part is secure. 

When the glue's dry and the box looks sturdy to be worked on, I decoupaged it with small pieces of scrapbook paper using Mod Podge. I have lots of these 1"x1" pieces of paper because before throwing away small cut outs from a finished project or a scrap piece of paper, I always check if there's still a big enough  piece I can save. I only throw away tiny pieces and strips that couldn't make out a one inch square. 

After adhering the squares on the box and finishing up with a coat of Mod Podge on top, my file holder is ready. I also tried putting some magazines and they fit well on this size of box.

Now, everything form the biggest size of paper to the smallest one in my craft area seems to be in order. As of this writing, I'm actually still in the process of making organizers and boxes to keep everything neat and keep attractive and colorful things from my daughter's sight. Every time she comes here in my craft area, she likes getting her hands on anything she thinks she can play with, that's why I always make sure that anything breakable and sharp is far from her reach, but sometimes I let her play with balls of yarn and choose the color she likes.

Till next time. Thanks for visiting.